Freedom – …And the Truth Shall Set You Free.

The Illusion of a Poll: Fact and Fable in Deaf Community

January 18, 2019January 23, 2019 The Last HiccupLeave a comment

What would it like not to live without history that reflects all of us who Deaf people are? The history of idea of creating “poll” goes back to George Gallup who defined the American information to give voters the right to democracy, and most importantly, the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) gives any person has the right to seek access for information at the request including the right to poll.

Guaranteed. Deaf people have seen the Gallup Poll sharing national news with anchors talking about it on national television, there is no way to miss this. It has changed the history of American politics including our own Deaf community.

It is a poll that Deaf people have right to gather their opinions for the fact of the matter is voting that creates truth to understand the power-struggling experiences and should not hide the emotional suffering in denial, and somehow suffering and does not know it.

Remember the times where there would be a tent with pollsters asking someone to taste the hidden drink which it would be COKE or PESPI. If you are right with the chosen drink brand, you get a prize. Come on, we cannot forget that. I did that. I like Pepsi. It is a simple and democratic poll. We are created as statisticians because we have the right to vote even for a poll.

We are strong believers in polling, too. When someone Deaf writes: “Deaf Life is abusing its powerful influence in the Deaf community.” That’s far fetched.

That is a one-sided perspective and never read diverse variety of information chewing influence away, and the poll created by DEAF LIFE is simple, harmless and a human right for anyone to vote in a poll when it comes to LEAD-K and Alexander Graham Bell. Would you react differently if it was George Veditz partners up with Alexander Graham Bell? What about truth partners up with toxicity? Would it go quietly deliberate and depend on the information to create their own viewpoints in polling? Do Deaf people have right to get Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), too?

There is the subscription in truth for freedom of information act and Deaf community should not deal with Alexander Graham Bell getting away with the fear of having a different opinion from the rest of Deaf community like us. Within polls like this one in Deaf community, we would want to fit in society without fear and hatred from Alexander Graham Bell. That kind of thinking does not develop social justice that shows many survivors who experienced language deprivation from the biggest oppressor, Alexander Graham Bell.

That is the kind of justice that is rightfully important to all of us and we need more people like us that are courageous enough to vote in a poll to stand up against what is wrong in society we deal with every day, and it starts with us to make a better place for all of us to live safely as much as possible, and that starts with a poll that is historic enough.

It sends a wrong message with final answer: Because Deaf community continues to live in Alexander Graham Bell’s America where its American citizens gets their news from known-sided organization like AGBell filled with propaganda and disinformation which best option for a language to learn other than rejecting American Sign Language off the book to control Deaf people’s use of the powers of emotionalism to allow modes of communication like Cued Speech, Oralism, Cochlear Implants all are Alexander Graham Bell’s favorite tools that will improve English in listening and writing far skyrocket…..the very same fear in and of themselves that ASL is powerful and best choice of all languages.

It should concern all of us that we continue to ignore the facts and follow our emotions when it comes to give Alexander Graham Bell the crown like a king. What should public opinion like this poll be based on? Should it be based on forgotten experiences? What would it mean to us in the eyes of educational polling? It also abuses its powerful influence of journalism that is often not enough discussed in Deaf community.

-JT

This text may be freely copied in its entirely only, including this copyright message.

ACLU: Hate Crime Exist in Deaf Community

June 13, 2018 The Last HiccupLeave a comment

As a Deaf person who had supported American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) for years had walked through ACLU’s conference 2018 in Washington, D.C. with thousands and thousands of people, after I walked through and met some coolest ACLU state chapters, and national members you’ve ever seen.

This is what it feels like when you understand your rights feel worth every minute, when the conference starts, when there is an opportunity right there. This is what it feels like when you feel empowered. In the last 22 years of being a Deaf returnee, has been shackling to a cruel and unusual punishment in the eye of United States Constitution, Eighth Amendment.

I was a Gallaudet University graduate student with full scholarship. I was expelled from Gallaudet University for my 32 years ago wrongdoing and mistake. That is when I was 12 years old kid. Just a fucking kid. 32 years ago. I was wrong what I did. Come on! How can it be in the name of truth by figuring out the solution, second-chances upon a potentially far more healthy discourse for Deaf community?

How come the cruel punishment continue to fail to meet the lowest acceptable standards of human fairness, why Deaf community in America spent decades in defending and speaking out against injustice, Audism—when is a hate crime a hate crime? When it is a crime of hate, or when the media say it is not?

And if the society are to be the arbiters of what is, or not, a hate crime, who will judge Deaf people without bias? Is Deaf community the last hope resort?

When society took the dominance over Deaf people’s turfism, the screaming pain in the early days of cruel punishment, Deaf people became the target for the society that could not escape the hate. Whether Deaf people’s traumas can ever truly overcome. The answers offer is in denial, deeply rooted in lies and empty my heart out. The name of truth will ever be seen.

There are two important amendments to the United States Constitution that help to explain the rights of Deaf community.

The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution states: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances. Here is the breakdown: freedom of press, freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom to assemble, freedom to petition.

The Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution states: No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; or shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal when accused of wrongdoing. Due process means the Gallaudet University cannot give you a serious punishment, like suspension or expulsion, without first having followed fair procedures to determine if you are guilty.

If you are found guilty of something, the punishment cannot be more serious than the misconduct was. If Gallaudet chooses to punish you, it must punish all others the same. I continue to “speak up, speak out!” Gallaudet needs change now. Be bold, be changed, and be heard!

In Gallaudet University, most of the people around are totally unaware that there is any problem at Gallaudet University. Talk about it more! Get other interested and concerned for the Deaf in their struggle for social justice. One day to complete my dream to give lecture for ACLU about hate crimes in Deaf community.

-JT

This text may be freely copied in its entirely only including this copyright message.

Audism Free America: The March Against Fear

March 12, 2017March 12, 2017 The Last HiccupLeave a comment

There are millions of Deaf people have been traumatized through the society mechanics of fear. America as a nation has also built by Deaf people as well, too.

Every day, a single Deaf person will most likely experience Audism even though they may not know they experienced it. Imagine all those times what they have endured through difficult conditions in hopes of better lives in America.

Every day, they have been questioned for being state of Deaf. The cracks of freedom in the pursuit of happiness have been harshly questioned. As the word, “Deaf”—as in fricative sound like ‘death’—in the world of Audism, Deaf people escape from the brink of death.

Fear. As I looked up the definition of ‘fear’—be afraid of (someone or something) as likely to be dangerous, painful, or threatening. We have all faced with primal fear. Fear is one of the most powerful emotions. The book I would highly recommend for any one who have the love for reading–the author, Barry Glassner makes a lot of good points about minorities.

It is sad that hearing people would think fearful of Deaf people. They are the one who threatens Deaf people in the first place. Deaf people live in the face of fear—not hearing people. It is not fair for them to deal with this in the land of so-called freedom.

If hearing people are so fearful about Deaf people, they should ask sociological questions about American Sign Language (ASL), they have to realize that ASL is a human language.

In questioning Deaf people, do they have a reason shaped by their power, a cognitive unconscious to which they have direct access to patronize Deaf people? Who are Deaf people? What is their morality? How do hearing people understand Deaf people? And so on.

Let’s start with Milan Conference known as The Second International Congress on Education of the Deaf in 1880. The historical start of hate crimes is the dehumanization of Deaf people in order to use them as punching bags. Compound in Milano, Italy and headquartered and campground to train and build up a hate movement.

100 years later in 1980s, Alexander Graham Bell ideology where they became more powerful that time and created counter-movement and believe that there are needs to be funding for AGBell and dehumanize Deaf people’s righteous lives. They want to do:

Deaf people can be replaced. They are all just sub-humans. Minority crime. Collective ignorance. Illegal cover-up and regulation. Coded in one factor: Deaf people. Hate crimes are so invisible even in Deaf community.

It is important for Deaf people and hearing allies to attend ASL/Deaf Pride rally in the nation’s capital sponsored by Audism Free America (AFA). Celebrating 200 years of America’s first Deaf Education planted its seeds and we shall preserve the seeds to grow tomorrow.

I encourage people to attend the rally to be part of it. There is no need to be fearful of Deaf people that include Deaf returned citizens. There is no reason to be fearful of Deaf people. They also are the reason they make America beautiful.

Overcome fear.

-JT

This text may be freely copied in its entirely only, including this copyright message.

A Dumb Picture: Not The Real Thing!

July 1, 2013February 25, 2017 The Last HiccupLeave a comment

I saw a perfect picture yesterday that I would like to share with you. Is America obsessed with listening and speaking?

Alexander Graham Bell (AGB) is dead but Oralism and Cochlear Implant remain alive; Keep saying it. It is the truth the far right that cannot be lied about anymore.

Albert Einstein (1879-1955) once said, “Socialism is man’s attempt to overcome the predatory stage of human development.” Ask then: Why does socialism equals cooperation? Many people only think of the good side of AGB and the media refuses to look under the covers. The real truth about AGB: he had no baggage–obvious to anyone–besides he was the guy who stole telephone patents and invented them. Oh, yes, the same person who loathed Deaf people, in his own famous words about Deaf children that needs to be heard and seen over and over, “We should try ourselves to forget that they are deaf. We should teach them to forget that they are deaf.”

After his death in 1922, we know that AGB had been in over his head and we the Deaf are suffering for it. We own our rights of the state of being Deaf, and we have to claim it back and be in shape. The bottom line is that there are millions of Deaf people who are suffering ostracism which has been tanking again, especially when Alexander Graham Bell Association of the Deaf (AGBAD) takes over in charge.

AGBAD’s plans for Oralism and Cochlear-Implanting Deaf babies is social insecurity and makes Deaf people suffer longer before receiving curtailed benefits. AGBAD invests billions of dollars in Cochlear Implants and Oralism in market by making sure that both the AGBAD and its sister organization, Oberkotter Foundation, earn the profit of the income. AGBAD and Oberkotter Foundation makes sure to let the floodgates on future Deaf babies to be cochlear-implanted for profits of a lot of money from insurance companies through a voucher system at any cost. They are truly the sharks.

The picture up there is a perfect example of the U.S. Constitution that Deaf people should be protected by First Amendment to have the rights to use American Sign Language and their rights to be Deaf. Why is AGBAD still holding Deaf-center on a degraded legal rights control zone after all these years because the politics of Oralism and Cochlear-Implanting companies fear the media profiteering off the Deaf-centered topics? The AGBAD is a joke if they want to expect to protect the society. The AGBAD is for the solo benefit of those Oralists and Cochlear-Implanting companies running for “election” to use the media profiteers to use the FEAR to destroy Deaf people off the face of Earth. PERIOD.

Conclusion: Historically, AGBAD seems to find a way to throw out the Deaf-signing nor Deaf-centered people under the conditions and it gives AGBAD the power to fix things. AGBAD has been contrasted with the ugly, hateful, negative, I hate Deaf-centered people, and will never show you their returns or tell you the details of their plans because Deaf-centered people do not deserve it at all. AGBAD’s ideologies were both uplifting and inspiring.

The question that we the Deaf need to think in a free society like ours, how far should efforts in public safety go before we are trampled on the very foundations of freedoms and liberties of all Americans? Happy July! The same month that honorable Laurent Clerc passed away 144 years ago. Never mind the Bill of Rights was adopted by the Congress.

-JT

This text may be freely copied in its entirely only, including this copyright message.

A Sad “State” of Being Deaf

June 20, 2013September 18, 2017 The Last HiccupLeave a comment

Alexander Graham Bell in Disguise by Nancy Rourke

Once a baby is born Deaf, he or she is taken totally under the control of the State. It is rather sad to admit that the State is completely oblivious of what being Deaf entails. It often rely on an unjustified illusion that Deaf baby can be made to hear through such high technologies as amplification and cochlear implants (CI).

Alexander Graham Bell Association of the Deaf (AGBAD) has spearheaded a method called Oralism to educate Deaf children to listen only to the sounds, degrading their lives. It has reaffirmed an ideology that Deaf children are in danger of using sign language. AGBAD urges that Deaf children be cochlear implanted, learn how to listen and speak.

Deaf children are just like everybody else. However, AGBAD wants to have them habilitated and rehabilitated through CI or amplification. That is their punishment for being Deaf, their insult to a homogenous society where everyone else can hear and speak. However, Deaf children are normal people who should not be stigmatized by horrible discrimination against their being Deaf.

AGBAD and its sister organization, Oberkotter Foundation are really conservative groups that promote values of Oralism and fight against the Deaf community. Thank you, AGBAD and Oberkotter for attempting to destroy the Deaf. Everything that we the Deaf have worked so hard for do shed our blood for our own history since the 1880 Milan Resolution banning sign language everywhere. We the Deaf must remember that Alexander Graham Bell never attended the Milan Congress in 1880 but sent a telegraph message to let the Congress know that he supported the cardinal rule of using only “speech and listening.”

Those people who are loyal to AGBAD are less evolving than those who are innovative. Modern civilization is built upon cooperation. Those that believe in the philosophy of Oralism, should be rejected and be locked outside the city gates and left to fend for themselves with the other wild animals. Alexander Graham Bell of the United States of America, Samuel Heinicke of Germany, Thomas Braidwood of United Kingdom, Pedro Ponce de Leon of Spain—their vision is to “de-Christianize” the Deaf, to make Oralism more common and available. In the United States, AGB hated anyone who are Deaf because they are successful signing people.

AGBAD does not want to take any chance with the validity of ASL. It is practicing the humility—the segregation—by monitoring communities to make sure Deaf people stop existing. Also, AGBAD does not allow Deaf people to have all of the constitutional rights and freedom. Instead, AGBAD makes sure Deaf people are without credentials, be degraded, and have limited constitutional rights and freedom.

Talking about the constitutional rights and freedom, ask now: Why does the U.S. government allow the abuse by abridging the principles of equality under the law from the Deaf? The U.S. government has decided that democratic values for the Deaf are not applied anyway. They had created two class-like societies: One for normal (hearing) citizens and the other for degraded citizens known as the Deaf as well as people with disabilities. Why? Are Deaf people fallible. They fail. Paul Ricoeur writes: “What is meant by calling man fallible? Essentially this: that the possibility of moral evil is inherent in man’s constitution.” When will this anti-democractic, oppressive crap going to stop?

Deaf people are everywhere in our society. They may be eating next to you, they may be shopping next to you, and they may be standing behind you in the check out lines. But fact is that you should be more worried about those who hate the Deaf because they are the ones who will harm Deaf people’s lives. In a book called Looking Back: A Reader on the History of Deaf Communities and their Sign Languages written by Renate Fischer and Harlan Lane, in page 512, “…..because we, the hearing scholars, must by no means assume the role of evaluating from the outside the achievement or non-achievement of Deaf careers and leave the Deaf alone to overcome oralism. Instead, we intend to contribute to this goal, at the very least by not reproducing socially caused inequality under the banner of science…”

Using this “banner of science,” being Deaf is a biological condition—a very much part of human life. Support the repeal of AGBAD. AGBAD is idealistic and thoughtless. It was wrong of Alexander Graham Bell to attempt to exterminate a Deaf person which was both thoughtless and unthinkable. Finally, and, you, AGBAD, are a miserable bedpan emptier who wishes the State as very sad as you are.

-JT

This text may be freely copied in its entirely only, including this copyright message.

Reference:

Fischer, Renate and Lane, Harlan. Looking Back: A Reader on the History of Deaf Communities and their Sign Languages.